Billions of Dollars for Energy-Efficient and Smart Grid Technologies

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the economic stimulus bill, which aims to rejuvenate the struggling U.S. economny. Within this bill were many NEMA-supported provisions. For the past several months, NEMA met with President Obama's staff and Hill staff to secure funding for NEMA's priority programs. The bill contains billions of dollars that will benefit NEMA members. A quick rundown of the NEMA-advocated provision are;

$4.5 billion for smart grid related activities

$10 million of which was expressly directed for the NEMA/NIST "smart grid interoperability framework"

$200 million for energy storage technology

$6.5 billion to build new transmission systems

$14.4 billion for renewable energy and energy efficiency

$4.5 billion for energy efficiency upgrades to Federal buildings

$8 billion for renewable-energy loan guarantees

$4.2 billion for energy efficiency block grants for State projects

$2 billion for "advanced" batteries and components

$20 billion for health IT activities

3-year extension of the Renewable Wind Energy Tax Credit thru 2012

5-year accelerated depreciation for smart meters installed by January 2011